🧭 Rights of family carers at a glance
In brief
If you care for a relative at home, two legally separate areas affect you in Germany. One concerns the person in need of care: care level (Pflegegrad), care allowance (Pflegegeld), benefits in kind (Pflegesachleistung) – these long-term care insurance benefits (SGB XI) legally belong to the person in need of care, not to you as the carer. The other area concerns you yourself as a carer: your right to leave from work (Care Leave Act and Family Care Leave Act), your protection against dismissal during this time and your own cover in the pension and accident insurance, as long as you provide care to a significant extent without pay.
These pages concentrate on the second perspective: your rights as a carer. For questions from the point of view of the person in need of care themselves – for example how a care level is applied for or what an advance healthcare directive and a power of attorney for care provision regulate – you will find detailed information in the Wegweiser module Seniors.
Step by step
- Clarify the need for careHas a care level already been determined for your relative? Without at least care level 2, most of the entitlements described here (care leave, family care leave, your own pension insurance) do not exist. For how the assessment works, see the topic page "Care level assessment".
- Bridge the acute situationIf the need for care arises suddenly, you can stay away from work for up to 10 working days to organise care (§ 2 PflegeZG) – with care support allowance (Pflegeunterstützungsgeld) as wage replacement.
- Plan for the medium termFor longer-term care, consider care leave (Pflegezeit, up to 6 months, full or partial leave) or family care leave (Familienpflegezeit, up to 24 months, reduced working hours).
- Secure your own protectionIf you provide care regularly and to a certain extent without pay, the care insurance fund (Pflegekasse) can pay contributions to your pension insurance; you are also covered by the statutory accident insurance.
- Use the support availableCare counselling under § 7a SGB XI, care support centres (Pflegestützpunkte) and free care courses under § 45 SGB XI are expressly aimed at you as a relative too – use them before the strain becomes too much.
Deadlines
- Care allowance, benefits in kind and most other long-term care insurance benefits legally belong to the person in need of care, not to you as the carer – how care allowance is passed on within the family is a private matter, not one regulated by law.
- Care leave and family care leave require that at least care level 2 has been determined for the person being cared for.
- The full legal entitlement to care leave applies only to employers with usually more than 15 employees, and that to family care leave only to those with more than 25 employees. In smaller businesses you can only request an agreement, not enforce it in court.
- These pages cover your rights as a carer. For the perspective of the person in need of care themselves (care level, pension, advance healthcare directive), see the Seniors module.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Two separate areas of law
German law distinguishes sharply between benefits for the person in need of care (long-term care insurance, SGB XI) and the rights of the carer themselves. A carer within the meaning of § 19 SGB XI is someone who cares for a person in need of care in their home environment on a non-professional basis. Employment-law entitlements to leave (PflegeZG, FPfZG) and your own cover in the pension and accident insurance are linked to this role, not to a care level of your own.
Close relative
Both the PflegeZG and the FPfZG require that the person is a "close relative" (§ 7 Abs. 3 PflegeZG): among others parents, parents-in-law, spouses and partners, own children and children of the spouse or partner, siblings as well as grandparents and grandchildren. The circle is narrower than "family" in everyday usage.
Why this module is separate from "Seniors"
The Wegweiser module Seniors covers entitlements from the point of view of the person in need of care: how do I apply for a care level, what pension am I entitled to, how do I make provision with an advance healthcare directive and a power of attorney. This module covers the other side: what happens to your job, your pension and your health when you provide care. The two perspectives overlap at individual points (e.g. the care level assessment); there the pages refer to each other.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.